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Bad News

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

As the end of its fiscal year, and perhaps its fiscal solvency, approach, the U-S Postal
Service remains in the news. Unfortunately, many of the stories and opinions are
ill-informed.

A national newspaper had a breathless story about how the Postal Service is creating
mini-post offices in convenience stores and the like. That's not new. They're called
"contract stations." Remember watching a Western, and someone would go to the general
store to pick up his mail?

Most of the articles concentrate on the loss of mail volume in this Internet age, or its
union contracts.

But those aren't the real problems - it's that five years ago, Congress passed a bill
requiring the Postal Service to contribute five-point-five billion dollars a year IN ADVANCE
to a pension and benefits fund... some of which covers employment at OTHER government agencies.
The Postal Service is the only part of the federal government required to fund pensions
IN ADVANCE.

Meanwhile, the Postal Service has been OVERPAYING into another pension and benefits fund.

Refund those overpayments, or stop making the Postal Service contribute to the other fund,
and it would be making a PROFIT.

But with the U-S federal deficit soaring, that's not likely to happen.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting, and
to see how this postal melodrama plays out, visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

----------------------------------------------------------

Download this CBS report as an MP3 sound file.

Bad News

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

As the end of its fiscal year, and perhaps its fiscal solvency, approach, the Postal Service
remains in the news. Unfortunately, many of the stories and opinions are ill-informed.

A national newspaper had a breathless story this week about how the Postal Service is
creating mini-post offices in convenience stores and the like. That's not new. They're called
"contract stations." Remember watching a Western, and someone would go to the general store
to pick up his mail?

Most of the articles concentrate on the loss of mail volume in this Internet age, or its union
contracts.

But those aren't the real problems - it's that the Postal Service has to shell out in advance
five-point-five billion dollars a year for a pension fund, while it's been overpaying into
another pension fund and can't get a refund.

Fix either of those problems, and the Postal Service would be making a PROFIT.

But with the federal deficit soaring, that's not likely to happen.

And that's stamp collecting this week. I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News.

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